A campaign by the Liverpool Echo to raise money for Rhys Jones has hit the £20,000 mark.

The Merseyside daily’s campaign, called Liverpool Unites, is striving to collect £100,000 towards the Rhys Jones Memorial Fund.

The Fund, set up in memory of 11-year-old Rhys after he was shot in the city, is raising £1.5m for a new community centre to be opened in his name in Croxteth Park where he lived.

People across Liverpool have been buying purple wristbands for £1 as well as dropping coins in donation boxes at a local bakery chain.

Assistant editor Andrew Edwards said: “We launched it as a ribbon appeal with a view to doing the campaign in a series of steps which would include the fund-raising.

“If people wore the ribbons it meant they were not prepared to stand by and do nothing.

“This is a campaign fund which is seeking to meet our pledge of raising £100,000.”

Liverpool Unites has four aims – to provide 1,000 more police officers on Merseyside, deliver a minimum sentence of 10 years for illegal possession of a firearm, better witness protection and implement controls to make it harder for criminals to acquire guns or re-commission decommissioned weapons.

The Echo has also set up an online petition which has amassed over 1,760 signatories with the campaign being backed by Gordon Brown after he visited the city.

A local developer has also offered their services which is expected to save local planners thousands of pounds of tax-payers’ money.

Echo editor Alastair Machray said: “Every penny we raise takes this plan closer to becoming a reality for the people of Croxteth Park.

“Everyone who has bought a purple ribbon or wristband, or has donated to us directly, is doing their part to fight gun crime. With a united Liverpool, we can make a difference.”